SEGWAY

Not been doing much with this blog. Life's been ...busy....

Still bikey bikey though. Not done loads and loaads of fixie-ing.A few spins here and there,it's a great training tool and superb for nipping to the village and stuff.

The last post mentioned a CX race Alan and I were intending doing . That came and went . I was going to do it on my old DB . In the end I didnt get it done on time. It's still in the garage. It's on the way . The frame is stripped ,I've body fillered the hole , as you do,and it's ready for paint. I have 99% of all the parts I need to finish it. At the minute I'm thinking 'multi purpose RV metro chic'. A slicked up bomber ,that with a change of tyres can also be MTB'd. It is a superb MTB after all.

We did the 'cross race BTW. I was on one of the demo cannondales ,the carbon Rize. Alan was on the 'dale carbon Rush. Had a great time .Check it out HERE.Have a browse around ,there's a mad video up there too.

Been doing quite a bit of MTB over the last few months . Some good rides. Been trying to put a different spin ,ahem , on the usual Sunday thing. Just jazzing it up a bit. I've upped the mileage a few times by hoofing it up from ours up to our local trails in Rivington and instead of the same old same old ,we've done some exploring and thrown in a couple of new bits. All good.

A typical ride can be found HERE.Come along . All welcome.

So ,maybe it's the springtime sun on my back ,or maybe its the velodrome trip we did the other week,HERE,but I'm getting some fixie again.

In the last month I've had a few short blasts ,no more than 6 or 7 miles in a trip and I've really enjoyed it. I'm a lot happier bobbing along on it.Stopping the thing isnt quite so scary. Just today I went into town and hardly touched the brake on the way in,even controlling my descent down the local 'col' with my spindly legs. A workout both ways.

Next thing coming up ?.....

We'll see.

MID LIFE CxRISIS

I've been talking about cyclocross for the last few months.Nostalgia trip. My mate Alan and I did a few races on our MTBs back at the end of the 80s.Last Saturday I sent him a link to an event near us.Not for any particular reason ,something to browse,y'know.

Anyway . On Sunday morning we went out MTBing.As we met he greeted me with " yea,signed up for that".

I'm like " what ? !"

So that's that . We've signed up for a cyclocross race. Feb 7th . 2 hrs + 1 lap.

I dont think any amount of training will make me much fitter than I already am ,but I went out on Christmas Eve for a local blast.Typical CX circuit . Mud ,lots of it ,and tight twisty tracks through the trees. I wont say I didnt enjoy it ,cos I did . But it was damned hard towards the end. I set my alarm to do 1 hr ,flat out .

I was fairly having a go . Time was ticking away . Slowly . I was convinced ,utterly ,that the alarm had gone off and I hadnt heard it ,or I hadnt set it properly . I stopped to check it.

55 mins.

So that's were I'm up to. I'll do some 'training' ,and see how it goes.

Bike selection . I'll keep you posted. I'm thinking of resurecting my dead Diamondback Axis.Singlespeed .Flat bars. The narrowest tyres I can get.

We'll see.That's a hole in the toptube right there.

PAIN RELIEF

'BEFORE' SHOT

CRACKED EARLY GUSSET. MX 1000.

Not strictly fixed wheel ,but I have a bad back and I need some sugar.The cold doesnt help.

This is my bike . It's not some borrowed nostalgia from the unremembered 80s. I ,well ,mum and dad ,bought it in 1983 from Cooke Bros in Atherton.It was my 2nd BMX. An early christmas 83 present.

In those days BMXs evolved. Originally the wheels were spoked 'pro-class'. I swapped them for some black skyways. Later I re-swapped them for some Arayas. Even much later I picked up a burner with these black Tuffs on.Etc etc. I had white skyways on at one point.You get the idea. Different stems ,bars ,grips ,pedals.

At some point in its evolution,still the 80s, I stripped the stickers off and sprayed it . Green. As mad as that was , I did however have the forethought to not sand the chrome. I just tacked it, primed it and painted it. At some other point in it's 'evolution ' the green was tatty so I took that off and it was naked chrome ,stickerless. The green paint had actually protected the chrome.I hadnt painted the forks and theyre a little bit pitted.It must've been early 90s by now. It remained that way throughout the 90s . I used it on and off when I took our little lad to the track or the 'park to rip up the ramps.Grr.I had a shedload ,literally ,of BMXs around this time so it didnt always make the cut ,but it was always there . I happened upon some generic ammaco stickers in a bike shop in London in 2001 and those have been on it since then. Not absolutely cricket ,but...

Last week EnnuiBay- ing I just happened to do a search for 'ammaco' .I dunno why . It's the type of thing I do from time to time. Sometimes it might be 'whiskeytown' ,or 'ftw' ,or 'girvin' .That type of thing. This time I put 'ammaco'.I scrolled down the dozen or so items and to my delight some guy has rejigged up some stickers . Just for me. Ace. Not 'ace ' ,that was the cheaper one , 'pro' then.Yay.

Click.20 odd quid .Paypal.Postman.Clack.Wife overjoyed at my obvious pleasure.

So ,last night I de-gunked/de-stickered it with some industrial strength work type solvent.Harmful to aquatic organisms apparently . Hmm. And then I stuck on the new/old stickers on. It looks ace .Well ,'pro'. I reckon some new tyres and it'll be dead good.

It was in the back of the car this morning ,as on the way home I was returning it to my mum. She's old school. At work I had the opportunity to photograph it in the snow.

Snow is a bit of an 80s thing too.

So that's the story of that ,except , I forgot to mention in 1984 we were jumping down the terraced steps in Wigan Mesnes Park.Riding the first one and bunnyhopping onto the downslope of the next.Suddenly another icon of the 80s turned up.The parkie.That last bastion of empire. He said " Oi ! "The teenager of today would have bottled the twat.

We pegged it . In our haste I overjumped off the second terrace and 'flat bottomed it'. It must be a 15 footer. I fell off hard,bent the renthal seatpost and scratched the copy CW bars and ,wait for it ,snapped the bottom of the downtube gusset. It was a common problem .They changed the gussets for 84. That's how I know it was an 83. I got it early,before christmas,around September 83 I think.That said ,it couldve been for the 84 model year. I also ripped my Mountain Equipment 'bubble coat'.It was probably hair gel I slipped on.And those Miami Vice boaters werent too grippy either.

We were so hardcore.

Oh ,then there's the scar on my elbow.I was 15 when I did it . It was still a scab in college.What happened was......

I love that bike.

So why do I have a bad back?It's a bit better today. That'll be the warm fuzzy glow of nostalgia.

SHADE

LEARN TO LOVE THE RUST.EMBRACE THE RUST.

Not much two wheeled action this week. My back's been bad since I was painting my mum's ceiling last weekend. It was really sore until the middle of this week ,but is a lot better now. The sub-zero conditions put me off going out.It should be settled down by next week.
It rained in the week. Rust changes colour depending on whether it is wet or dry.
Does anyone else have a colour changing bike?

OK.

THIS WEEKS STEALING

Only a few little 'stolen ' moments this week.

Nipped out on tuesday night for a quick tour d'locale.Just blowing off the cobwebs.It was very cold and a bit breezy ,but even wearing anti-cycling clothes ,just some monster gloves , it was OK .



On Friday I threw the bike in the car and hoofed the last little bit into work . Next to nothing really.



I bought 'Cycling plus' magazine.



I dug out all the bits to build up my super old Diamondback Axis into a singlespeed cyclocross type bike.

I went into my LBS ( Alans) to 'chase the threads' on the BB.I'm missing some ducktape for that hole under the toptube.



Clickbought some repro stickers for my old BMX . The one I bought in 84. ( * )Another fairly easy 'project ' there. Hmm. Ammaco freestyle Pro , by the way.



Thinking about bikes and bike-related stuff.



The

whole

bloody

time.



Constantly.


* 83 ? 84 ? Errrr. I was 14 . It was 83

STUNT

"FORWARDS"

This is me just hoofing about on 'steal'.

It's also up on 'youtube'.

Still the same old thing.Swapped the pedals for DXs(so no skids) and put on some flat bars.Bit easier on the wrists.

Camera and dialogue by Danny.

Post production and death defying stunts by me.

OK .

HISTORY REPEATING

The word is about that something's evolving.
It doesnt know if it's coming or going.

A few weeks ago in my haste to create "Steal-V1.1" from my brother's old racer I forgot to take a definitive 'before' pic.
In a classic 'turn up for the books' ,my father-in-law,Joe ,came round with his old racer ,dug out from in the garage.
It's only exactly * like 'steal' was before I accosted it with nitromors and a selection of abrasive power tools.

So , I say " Joe . If you want ,for exactly zero £££s initial outlay I could easily convert this perfectly good classic 12 spd into something resembling that rusty old thing over there.No problem ".

So ,he says ".....!...."

The revolution is here.

* Taller headtube+ alloys ,but .....

'Steal ' is rusting up just nice BTW.

OK . TIM